BONUS TRAINING #1
A Live Online Training with Stephanie, Date & Time to be Announced

When Fear or Anxiety Rears Its Head

Being afraid can be a realistic roadblock to achieving our specific goals. The simplistic cliché of ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’, in what
can be high-risk activities, such as horse riding, is crazy. It can put you on a path to being injured or worse.

“You cannot rightly be called a wimp when you avoid or delay activities that scare you.”
~S. Burns

So, what do we do when fear or anxiety rears its head?

In the late 1990s, Stef completed her Ph.D. titled: The Emotional Experience of Adult Learners. It covered the effects of all types of emotion on learning behaviour. Then, as it happened, the sole focus on fear and anxiety emerged during a project in the world of
horses and riders. Her book, Move Closer, Stay Longer, was published as a result of this work and remains in wide circulation today.

There are many 1000s of people from both within and outside the horse world who will attest to the success of the strategy taught in the book.

In this bonus webinar, Stef is not discussing the book, but rather teaching much of the material from the book. It’ll be a reminder for some and new thinking for others. A fear of something can rear
its head unexpectedly at any time. Best to be prepared.

This session will explore:

• Being afraid
• The nature of fear and anxiety
• The action-readiness program triggered by an emotion affects behaviour
• Fear and anxiety is always about something specific
• What you can expect from the transformation of fear
• The process for finding the specific triggers for your reaction

BONUS TRAINING #2
A Live Online Training with Barb, Date & Time to be Announced

The Language of Feel

For many riders, a connection with a horse is their most sought-after experience.

Connection goes hand in hand with developing that elusive experience riders know and love - ‘feel’ - when a horse and rider trust each other and communicate back and forth clearly. 

In the saddle, it begins with being present and keenly aware of our horse's focus. We have a clear vision of what we want to achieve and the steps to get there. 

Then, we initiate a ‘conversation’ when we ask our horse for a move; the horse responds, and we respond accordingly, and so on. The experience can be luxurious.

The exquisite back and forth between horse and rider happens in micro-moves. 

We become mentally, emotionally, and physically grounded, breathing and tuning in to how the horse moves us. Then we communicate through our intention, eyes, breath, seat, legs, feet, and finally, if needed, our hands. 

Over time, you can feel when a horse is about to do something before they barely initiate a movement, and then you respond accordingly and smoothly. 

You can learn to deepen your feel with your horse.

Yes, it takes time in the saddle. And as you combine understanding and practicing the fundamentals of feel, you can integrate them into all you do with your horse.

During The Language of Feel, Barb will introduce you to a systematic way of communicating with a horse through feel. It’s the same sequence she’s taught to hundreds of riders with tremendous success.

As you practice consistently, it becomes a way of riding that underpins everything you do in the saddle with your horse. 

What we’ll do:

• Explore a sequence of mind-body synchronization and understand why this strategy works for cultivating feel.
• Share exercises to help you develop feel with your horse in the saddle.
• Give examples of how you can integrate these fundamentals of communication into your technical skill practice.
• Use your warm-up to consistently practice these skills as well as strengthen other mechanics you may be working on for your discipline.

BONUS TRAINING #3

Making Memories Training

In this video recording, you'll discover how to create lasting memories.

It will build on our You Hold the Reins sessions, providing deeper insights and strategies for creating lasting memories.

Memory is your asset; memorizing is a skill that allows you to do amazing things with it.

When you're done, you will be able to 'play with' specific strategies for whatever you want to do:

• Your brain needs to know that you want it to remember!
• Creating a memory is not a passive activity. It's like doing what you did to learn stuff in school. You DID SOMETHING.
• The 'something' you do has to make sense in how the brain creates memories.
• The speed, ease, and efficiency of remembering something have only to do with how you do it.
• How good or not suitable you are at making something memorable has NOTHING to do with age or intelligence.
• If you have effective strategies for memorizing things, you will be able to memorize them more quickly. If you didn't or don't, you will memorize new information more slowly. FULL STOP. It is not magic.
• Memorizing something takes a short amount of intense, concentrated time. That effort pays off for all future times when you can confidently access that information or skill. What's best about it is that it's a one-time effort; once it's completed, it's done.
• Nobody becomes a good memorizer without practice.
• Having something deeply memorized eliminates fear and anxiety about forgetting during performances.